Yet another reason for anyone who cares at all about gaming to jump ship. I'm waiting to see what leaks out of Apple in the next month or so, but I expect to replace my aging MBP with something non-Apple. I really can't think of anything I do on my Mac that I couldn't do on a dirt cheap Chromebook next go around.
We do not want to pull out a dongle every time to connect to a damn speaker system or our headphones.
You use the headphone jack for "a damn speaker system"?
You've never heard of desktop computer speakers?
The 1000 or so classrooms in the school district I work for do not have "desktop computer speakers", they do have a wall plate containing a 1/4" headphone jack. Plugging into that jack sends the audio signal to an amplified speaker mounted in the ceiling in the center of the room. None of the conference rooms or auditoriums have "desktop computer speakers". The also rely on headphone jacks for sound.
Seriously, I understand the need to remove obsolete stuff. However, something that is in widespread use is, by definition, not obsolete.
There some things that I can't make sense of. How is it Apple (and others) can't seem to understand that:
...removing support for things people rely on, which requires people to buy new gear means that the cost of doing business with Apple goes up, which reduces the number of people that can afford to use an Apple solution. This is why I can't afford a the current Mac Pro; it's the added cost of the external PCIe chassis (3 to 4 slots) and every other bit of gear I'd have to buy to replicate the functionality that makes owning the machine worth it to me. Basically they transformed the Mac Pro from a workstation that I wanted into a consumer machine which I have no use for.
...not everyone can simply "go buy" something to replicate lost functionality. Where I work and at places that aren't your home, you don't have the liberty to bring in your own gear. Either your stuff works with the existing infrastructure or you're out of luck.
I must admit that I was skeptical about removing the optical drive, however that's not been that big a deal... However the loss of the ethernet port is terrible. At work they purchased these crappy tablet PCs from HP with no ethernet jack. Of course they didn't purchase hundreds of the more expensive PXe netboot dongles to replicate the lost functionality, they provided 5 or so...
This means that instead of plugging 30 to 70 of them into a switch (using stuff we already have), net-booting them, and reimaging them easily... Instead we're stuck doing a few at a time using USB drives or in batches of 3 to 5 via net-boot which takes MUCH longer and takes MUCH more effort. Most everyone on the IT staff hates the things.
My point is that there are consequences to removing support for widely used standards that make the affected devices unsuitable for many environments. Furthermore this sort of thing makes the job of the people trying to support your stuff MUCH harder. In turn, the people that your customers often turn to for computer shopping advice (IT workers), grow to hate your gear. At this point, the only HP gear that I could recommend, in good faith, is their printers. Before dealing with these tablets, I had a relatively good impression of their computers.
While I don't have a problem on ditching it on the iPhone, PLEASE dont ditch it on the Mac yet. Just DON'T.
when you DJ and want to listen to some songs on your computer you want to listen to them on the headphones you're gonna use at the venue. They aren't wireless. And I don't want to ever use a Windows computer for that. Thanks.
Removing the jack doesn't leave wireless as the only alternative, wired is needed for low latency. The 3.5mm analog jack isn't electrically isolated so noise on the power line can be transferred directly to the audio. Optical audio is fine but it's just digital audio, which can be output via USB.
Apple asking if people use the 3.5mm jack is a bit like asking if they use Mag-Safe. If that's the main or only option then of course people will be using it. If the options were different, they'd be using other options. Audio product manufacturers haven't done much to popularize digital audio. If Apple don't include more ports then it wouldn't be nice of them to remove the jack. The MBP should have 4 USB C ports, especially if one is for charging.
It means another wired dongle for wired audio but if it's left attached to wired headphones then it's not such a big deal and if they have USB C ports on each side, it means being able to plug the cable into whichever side is preferred. The operating system would need to do a better job of detecting USB audio devices though. When a 3.5mm jack is plugged in, the system automatically routes audio through it. If the USB devices can have an identifier as an audio device, the system can switch the audio accordingly.
If someone uses wired headphones or speakers all day every day, all they'd do is attach a USB C to 3.5mm plug on the end of that and do the same as they've always done but now the audio is digitally transferred from the laptop so less likely to pick up interference from the laptop itself.
Jon Cash said: Yet another reason for anyone who cares at all about gaming to jump ship.
Gamers use USB headsets that have bidirectional audio, which is actually another advantage with digital. You can have everything over the same line: power, audio in, audio out, multiple channels, auxiliary data, video data, all without interfering with each other.
While they can leave both so you get analog plus all the benefits of digital, that doesn't encourage people to change their habits. Having an adaptor at least starts a conversation about buying digital or wireless audio equipment.
Comments
Seriously, I understand the need to remove obsolete stuff. However, something that is in widespread use is, by definition, not obsolete.
There some things that I can't make sense of. How is it Apple (and others) can't seem to understand that:
...removing support for things people rely on, which requires people to buy new gear means that the cost of doing business with Apple goes up, which reduces the number of people that can afford to use an Apple solution. This is why I can't afford a the current Mac Pro; it's the added cost of the external PCIe chassis (3 to 4 slots) and every other bit of gear I'd have to buy to replicate the functionality that makes owning the machine worth it to me. Basically they transformed the Mac Pro from a workstation that I wanted into a consumer machine which I have no use for.
...not everyone can simply "go buy" something to replicate lost functionality. Where I work and at places that aren't your home, you don't have the liberty to bring in your own gear. Either your stuff works with the existing infrastructure or you're out of luck.
I must admit that I was skeptical about removing the optical drive, however that's not been that big a deal... However the loss of the ethernet port is terrible. At work they purchased these crappy tablet PCs from HP with no ethernet jack. Of course they didn't purchase hundreds of the more expensive PXe netboot dongles to replicate the lost functionality, they provided 5 or so...
This means that instead of plugging 30 to 70 of them into a switch (using stuff we already have), net-booting them, and reimaging them easily... Instead we're stuck doing a few at a time using USB drives or in batches of 3 to 5 via net-boot which takes MUCH longer and takes MUCH more effort. Most everyone on the IT staff hates the things.
My point is that there are consequences to removing support for widely used standards that make the affected devices unsuitable for many environments. Furthermore this sort of thing makes the job of the people trying to support your stuff MUCH harder. In turn, the people that your customers often turn to for computer shopping advice (IT workers), grow to hate your gear. At this point, the only HP gear that I could recommend, in good faith, is their printers. Before dealing with these tablets, I had a relatively good impression of their computers.
Apple asking if people use the 3.5mm jack is a bit like asking if they use Mag-Safe. If that's the main or only option then of course people will be using it. If the options were different, they'd be using other options. Audio product manufacturers haven't done much to popularize digital audio. If Apple don't include more ports then it wouldn't be nice of them to remove the jack. The MBP should have 4 USB C ports, especially if one is for charging.
It means another wired dongle for wired audio but if it's left attached to wired headphones then it's not such a big deal and if they have USB C ports on each side, it means being able to plug the cable into whichever side is preferred. The operating system would need to do a better job of detecting USB audio devices though. When a 3.5mm jack is plugged in, the system automatically routes audio through it. If the USB devices can have an identifier as an audio device, the system can switch the audio accordingly.
If someone uses wired headphones or speakers all day every day, all they'd do is attach a USB C to 3.5mm plug on the end of that and do the same as they've always done but now the audio is digitally transferred from the laptop so less likely to pick up interference from the laptop itself.
Gamers use USB headsets that have bidirectional audio, which is actually another advantage with digital. You can have everything over the same line: power, audio in, audio out, multiple channels, auxiliary data, video data, all without interfering with each other.
While they can leave both so you get analog plus all the benefits of digital, that doesn't encourage people to change their habits. Having an adaptor at least starts a conversation about buying digital or wireless audio equipment.